"Where there's tea, there's hope"

[Dixie_Amazon]

Tea? Yes please!

I thank my Aunt Madie for serving me Earl Grey when I was about 11. She had a lovely tea service and bone china cups.

My favorite tea is Oolong, but I drink a great variety usually with not lemon, milk or sugar. Recently I discovered a restaurant that serves a very good green with toasted rice in it.

As for flavored teas I like Constant Comment, Earl Grey, some Jasmines and a decaf Ginger Peach from Republic of Tea. I usually add a lump of sugar or a partial packet of Splenda to these.

I also drink Tisanes. Republic of Tea has one called Chocolate Red Velvet Cake made with rooibos that is my current favorite. I also sweeten these.

 

[Down2BDapper]

I usually just drink old fashioned Earl Grey infused with bergamot.

Bigelow also makes a nice tea called Lemon Lift that I'm quite fond of. It's black tea with lemon and spice added.

'Course English Breakfast and Darjeeling are good too as many have mentioned.

 

[John in Covina]

I continue to suffer with a really bad cold and as in the past find that hot tea is a great relief.

 

[Flicka]

I don't drink nearly as much tea as coffee, mostly because I find tea takes its time - I need to brew it and drink it in peace and quiet. I'm a fan of lapsang and Fortnum & Mason has a tea with rose petals I adore.

 

[HadleyH]

I don't drink nearly as much tea as coffee, mostly because I find tea takes its time -

I am the same, in my case not because tea takes longer (I use tea bags ) but because I simply love coffee better!

But at the moment I am having the most delicious cup of Irish Breakfast Tea! with a dash of milk!

 

[Dixie_Amazon]

I have my first cup in the morning. It brews while I am making coffee and is ready long before the coffee, which I drink later with my husband.

I love drinking tea or coffee outside when the weather permits. It tastes even better.

 

[Mrs Chaddsley_Corbett]

I saw a recipe for "Ear Grey" ice cream, it involved steeping a few Earl Grey teabags in hot milk for 24 hours and then mixing that milk into commercially purchased ice cream.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Jack Buchanan -- Everything Stops For Tea

[video=youtube;MGQASun9d8E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGQASun9d8E[/video]

Every nation in creation has its favorite drink
France is famous for its wine, it's beer in Germany
Turkey has its coffee and they serve it black as an ink
Russians go for vodka and England loves its tea.

Oh the factories may be roaring
With a Boom a Lacka Zoom a Lacka Wee
But there isn't any roar when clock strikes four
Everything stops for tea

Oh a lawyer in the courtroom
In the middle of an alimony plea
Has to stop and help them pour when the clock strikes four
Everything stops for tea

It's a very good English custom
Though the weather be cold or hot
When you need a little pick up
You'll find a little teacup will always hit the spot

You remember Cleopatra
Had a date to meet Mark Antony at three
When he came an hour late she said you'll have to wait
For everything stops for tea

Oh they may be playing football
And the crowd is yelling "Kill the referee!"
But no matter what the score when the clock strikes four
And everything stops for tea

Oh the golfer may be golfing
And is just about to make a hole in three
But it always gets them sore when the clock yells "Four!"
Everything stops for tea

It's a very good English custom
And a stimulant for the brain
When you feel a little weary, a cup'll make you cheery
And it's cheaper than champagne

Now I know just why Franz Schubert
Didn't finish his Unfinished Symphony
He might have written more but the clock struck four
Everything stops for tea

 

[Connery]

I saw a recipe for "Ear Grey" ice cream, it involved steeping a few Earl Grey teabags in hot milk for 24 hours and then mixing that milk into commercially purchased ice cream.

What a great suggestion! I would enjoy sharing this with you Mrs Chaddsley_Corbett...


Green Tea Ice Cream

Green Tea Ice Cream served in ginger tulip with fresh blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, kiwi and pineapple

 

[Mr. Godfrey]

always Earl Grey, possibly PG Tips when I run out (my wife's).

This was reduced at Past Times:-

 

[Jo Larke]

My favorite kind of tea is green with a little something special-- I used to love this loose leaf peach green tea but can't find that anywhere now, so I have Jasmine Fancy green tea from Tazo. I usually prefer loose leaf but Tazo tea bags are also very good. And of course, there's nothing like raspberry iced tea with lunch!

 

[dnjan]

My favorite kind of tea is green with a little something special-- I used to love this loose leaf peach green tea but can't find that anywhere now, so I have Jasmine Fancy green tea from Tazo. I usually prefer loose leaf but Tazo tea bags are also very good. And of course, there's nothing like raspberry iced tea with lunch!

You might try Green Peach Tea from Simpson and Vail
I have ordered other teas from them before, and have been quite happy with the service. A family-run operation.

 

[Mr. Godfrey]

Tazo Chai is the best Chai I've had outside India.

 

[Dixie_Amazon]

Had anyone here had Simpson and Vail's Smokey Siberian Blend Tea, if so how dominat is the Lapsang Souchong? I am considering ordering some.

 

[Dixie_Amazon]

[video=youtube_share;vnvYymrCn4g]http://youtu.be/vnvYymrCn4g[/video]

 

[Mario]

I'm a man of very simple tastes here: Barry's Irish Breakfast Tea

 

[H.Herdick]

I'm a man of very simple tastes here: Barry's Irish Breakfast Tea

Me too.

Just tea from the Wuyi-mountains. "Oolong" or "zheng shan xiao zhong". Although in the Mountain, they are making also "Lapsang souchung".

If this tea is good enought for the English Royal Family - the Royal Family drinks most of the time the "zheng shan xiao zhong" (and I'm not kidding, they're drinking the same quality of tea that I have at home) it is just good enough for my family.

This is the original and very famous "Da hong pao" (in the middle of the picture). This tea is not harvested for several years. Probably they will never harvest this tea anymore. If so, you have to pay around € 20 000,- for 20 g. Almost all the tea from Wuyishan is called now "da hong pao".

Former college of my wife. Now he is making green tea in the province Zhejian.

The most famous mountain in Wuyishan, Fujian.

My family walking. The big building is a teafabric. I once helped out.

Here we drink tea in the nature reserve, part of the UNESCO heritage. Tourists come here barely inside. Because the uncle of my wife works there, I could enter

My little nice. Isn't she cute?

Looking through the door.

Wild tea. Chinese people still harvest this tea. No chemicals are used to let grow the tea. A very expensive tea - you can taste (soya)milk if you drinking this tea.

There are 2 teafabrics in the nature reserve. This is the biggest one. Here are working probably the best teamakers of the world. They are very well paid. In this teafabric, they are making the incredible expensive "zheng shan xiao zhong".

Prices (for 500g) a sliding scale, of course.

€20-€40 they use it to make tea-eggs. Oolong.

€80-€150 drinkable tea. Oolong.

€1000 good "da hong pao tea" and 'wild tea'. Oolong. Or Lapsang. Lapsan is invented in this erea.

€2000 and more good "zheng shan xiao zhong". This is not a Oolong.

These are the prices in Wuyishan. In other parts of China the tea cost a lot more. Till now, I hardly found this tea, but from a poor quality, in Europe. Most of the Oolong teas in Europe, they are made in Taiwan (Formosa).

 

[Dixie_Amazon]

Thank you for all the photos! I have a weakness for Oolong myself. Right now I am iced sun tea make with a generic sort of green tea. Later I will brew some proper tea.

 

[Mario]

My little nice. Isn't she cute?

Cutest nice I've seen in a long time!

 

[DJH]

Fantastic photos, HH.

Since I left the UK 20 years ago, I've been converted to coffee - of which I drink way too much and am personally keeping Dunkin Donuts in business. I think it is time I rediscovered tea.

I'll be trying out some tea ideas from Simpson and Vail - thanks for that link, Dan!